1968 IAF plane crash: Chit with wife name helped identify Himachal Pradesh sepoy's body

DEHRADUN: During identification of the remains of one of the four soldiers who went missing in the 1968 IAF plane crash in Himachal Pradesh, Army rescuers found a piece of paper neatly placed in Narayan Singh's pocket. He had scribbled his wife's name along with his. It simply said 'Basanti Devi'.

Nearly six decades later, sepoy Narayan's body has been returned to his remote village. As hundreds of mourners lined up to pay their last respects, for Narayan's family in a small village in Uttarakhand's Chamoli, there was finally closure.

Narayan's body was recovered from Dhaka glacier by a mountaineering team led by Army's Dogra Scouts. "We were overwhelmed when Army officials contacted our family with the news," said Rajendra Singh, whose grandfather was Narayan Singh's cousin. "We will take his body to the ancestral home before conducting final rites at our family ghat," said Rajendra, a resident of Kolpuri in Tharali tehsil.

On Wednesday, the mortal remains reached Gauchar airstrip in Chamoli. It is expected to reach Kolpuri in Chamoli district Thursday morning. Jaiveer Singh, the village head of Kolpuri and son of Narayan's wife, Basanti Devi, told TOI: "My mother waited for six years and then married Narayan's cousin. I was born thereafter. Since Narayan Singh was her first husband, I'll perform all the rituals as if he were my father."

Basanti Devi died in 2011. Narayan and Basanti, who got married in 1962, did not have any children together. She had seven children from her second marriage.

Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.